III by The Lumineers

Hello friends.

I hope you’re all well and enjoying your weeks, as far into the week as you are whenever you’re reading this post.

Today I wanted to speak about an album that I wasn’t really sure I was going to enjoy when I first realised I had to listen to it. For that to make sense, I’ll have to share a little bit about what I’m doing with my life at the moment, and that’s contributing writing to arguably Melbourne’s most loved freely distributed music magazine, Beat. Feel free to have a Google and see if you can spot any of my writing!

Anyway, amongst reviewing concerts and interviewing an artist every now and then, one of the other things I get to do is listen to new albums and review them for the fortnightly album review section of the mag. I put my hand up to have a listen to the recent Lumineers album, III, and was lucky enough to get it.

//source//

If you’ve read a few of my other posts or checked out any of my playlists, you’d know that I enjoy a couple of songs from the band, namely Sleep On The Floor, which I’ll forever and always be in love with, but I wasn’t sure what to expect.

That said, I was beautifully surprised, shocked, and incredibly moved. I nearly got emotional several times while listening through the album.

The album follows the story of a fictional family, the Sparks, and it depicts the struggle and evolution of this family having to live with a member fighting an addiction, and how that impacts the various members of the family. It’s a harrowing story and while it’s not a topic I’m incredibly close to personally, it made me really emotional.

There’s so much that I respect The Lumineers for, sonically, especially. Wesley Shultz has one of my favourite voices ever, and his vocal performance only amplifies the emotion and empathy behind all the lyrics in each song.

//source//

They also tread the line of allowing the album to really live and become energetic in songs like Gloria and Leader of The Landslide. I love how some of the songs sit so gently in your chest, either gently strumming a guitar or a melody on the piano, while others really hit you in the gut, songs like Life In The City and Jimmy Sparks. I also really enjoyed listening to the different parts of the story and understanding the story of how the family unfolds. The entire record really allows you to build this cinematic movie within the music and a really clear story that can only really be put together once you’ve listened to the album in it’s entirety.

I highly recommend you read the album review done by Atwood Magazine on each song, their meanings and the intricacy within the album, You can read that HERE.

This was such a beautiful album to listen to, it’s already been saved and playlisted on my Spotify. An absolute gem of a release.

x

Priya

PS:
Feel free to follow me on my social media!
Instagram: YouShouldHear
Twitter: YouShouldHear
Instagram: priya_francis (personal)
Spotify: priyafrancis